Tides of Adjustment
by Marcus
Summary: Part of Animefreeks story THEY WATCH US WHILE WE SLEEP, Buffy and Co. return to Sunnydale to bury someone dear to them, Joyce. along the way, friends show up, including someone unexpected, and unwanted.


Disclaimer: This is a non-profit story, the characters in here belong to their respected parties, except for Catherine Macleod, and she goes to AnimeFreek.

Note: This story takes place AFTER They Watch Us while We Sleep.

****

Tides of Adjustments

By: Marcus

Part 1

The airport terminal was rather quiet, the flight from New York had arrived late in the morning, and everyone was quite jetlagged. Buffy Summers, Willow Rosenberg, Rupert Giles and Xander LeVelle Harris walked out of the terminal, but they weren't alone, as they were accompanied by guests, followed by them were Duncan and Conner Macleod, Jean and Scott Summers, with Dawn in between them. Nathan Grey and his comrade, and in some ways lover, Domino, were close by.

Willow saw Tara walking towards her; Willow quickened her pace to close the gap between them more quickly "Hey." Tara greeted her lover as they hugged each other tightly. As Buffy and the others came up Tara and Willow reluctantly relinquished their hold over one another "Hey, I got some vans to bring you guys home." Tara said in her usual shy tone.

"Thanks Tara, we really appreciate you doing this at such a late hour." Buffy said, Tara shook her head "its no problem Buffy, anything I can do for you, just ask." Tara said as he waved to the newcomers in Sunnydale, Giles jerked around seeing them "Oh, Everybody, this is Tara, Tara, this is Scott and Jean Summers, their son Nathan Grey, Domino, and Duncan and Conner Macleod." He said, introducing them.

Jean smiled with a nod to her, as did everyone else, giving his or her form of greeting. Tara, being somewhat of an anti social person in a small way, gave a shy look and waved back to them "Uh, nice to meet you all." She said, she noticed that Nathan and Domino hadn't waved to them, she saw that they were a very intimidating pair, she made a mental note to tread lightly around them.

"Xander!" someone said from a bit off, Xander turned around to see Anya rushing towards him, she collided with his body, holding him tightly "I missed you." He whispered into her ear, Anya loosened up and back up a bit "I missed you too. I've never gone this long without sex." She said out loud.

Xander glanced over to the others who were all staring at them, Xander nodded with a stunned and embarrassed look on his face as he looked back to Anya. As they strolled off they heard the beginning of a new talk "Anya, remember our talk about some things being private?" they heard as they walked out of their range of hearing. 

Domino shook her head as Nathan looked at them, slightly stunned, "That was more than I needed to know." Domino mumbled to him, Nathan leaned over to her "How'd he end up with a cute chick like that?" he said. 

Giles looked back at them "She's a former vengeance demon, long story." He said, everyone nodded in half understanding.

"Shall we go?" Giles asked, he was eager to find a bed and pass out on it, Tara nodded "Van's are just outside at the doors." She said as she and Willow walked off, each holding hands. Jean noticed that, and just smirked '_So, that's the lucky lady in Willows life._' She thought to herself, she noticed that Scott didn't know about their sexuality and hadn't seen them holding hands, she figured that she would wait until later to tell him.

The group loaded their luggage into the vans, the Scooby gang loaded and got into one van with Tara driving as the others loaded into two others with Anya and Xander driving them.

The trio of vans arrived at Buffy and Dawn's home in a half an hour, the group who drove with Anya were a little shook up at the way she drove the van though.

Giles had offered Duncan and Conner residence at his apartment while they stayed in town, but Buffy told him that there would be plenty of room for all of them in the house. Inside, Buffy gave her room up to Scott and Jean as the fact that her bed was larger, "Just make sure you wash the sheets before you leave back for New York." Buffy said jokingly, mostly.

Everybody understood as she didn't put her mothers room to use, Dawn and Buffy bunked in Dawns room, Where Conner and Duncan used one on the rooms downstairs, Nathan and Domino used another room that was downstairs.

Xander and Anya went back to his place after the others were settled in, they gave a heart felt goodbye to their slayer friend and left with Xanders car, that he left there when he went to New York before with Giles and Dawn.

When Buffy saw Tara and Willow, she offered the only space she had left for them, the couch. Willow, who felt tired enough to sleep on a cement floor thanked her friend for the offer, as did Tara. "You going to be ok?" Willow asked Buffy.

Buffy nodded "For the most part yeah, it jus feels weird being here and not have mom around." Buffy said, Willow whimpered in her usual emotional, caring self and leaned in to give Buffy a hug "When you need to talk, me and Tara are here you know." She said, offering a sympathetic ear to the slayer.

"Thanks Wil." Buffy said as she patted Willow on the back gently. As they parted from their friendly embrace Willow gave out a big yawn, "Whoa, look out, that looks pretty contagious." Buffy said jokingly, Willow nodded, her eyes were half closed, she had a very relaxed look "'Night Buffy." Willow said, Buffy exchanged smiles with the wiccan as she went upstairs. Willow went and joined Tara in the living room as the lights went out and they joined each other on the couch.

Buffy walked up the stairs and went to Dawns room, she stopped before the half open door way, Scott and Jean were in there talking to her, making sure she was alright before they called it a night, "When's the funeral?" Dawn asked, unsure of some of the things that were coming.

Jean sat next to her while Scott stood by her side "We're nor sure yet Dawn, we'll know tomorrow." Jean said, Dawn nodded as she stirred to lye on her side, "Goodnight." They said as they gave a kiss to her cheek and walked out of the room.

"Buffy, everyone ok?" Scott asked as Jean silently and slowly eased the door half closed, Buffy nodded "Yeah, it feels weird here without her." She said once again, Scott placed his hand on her shoulder "I know how you feels, I truly do." He said sincerely. "I know, at least I'm sure you do, goodnight Scott, Jean." She said as he quickly hugged each of them and went into the room.

The next day, everybody was up and about, Willow and Tara had left early to give some space to the already crowded house, Buffy walked downstairs with Dawn to find Duncan and Scott in the kitchen, eating and talking somewhat. They looked up to see Buffy and Dawn as they walked in "Hey, morning." They greeted as Dawn sat down next to Scott as Buffy went to prepare something for the two of them.

"Where's everybody else?" Dawn asked, looking around. Scott thought as he knew the answer to Dawn's inquiry "Uh, Nathan and Domino went out for breakfast, they always did prefer fast food, Conner decided to join them as they did invite him to coma along, Jean is in the shower, she ought to be out soon. Willow and Tara left early, they left a note saying that they'd be coming by later on. Giles called too and said pretty much the same thing." He said. 

They heard a knock at the door suddenly "I'll get it." Buffy said as she placed a bowl of cereal before Dawn and rushed out of the kitchen and to the front door.

Buffy opened the door to see Xander standing there, alone "Xander, hey, come on in." she said, Xander nodded and walked in as invited to do so "Thanks Buff, just thought I'd stop by, see if you needed me to do anything, any calls about…well, y'know…funeral arrangements." He said hesitantly.

Buffy stood there, stunned by the idea of Xander taking the responsibility for this, not only that but the funeral itself, her mother, it was still tough for her to get around her mind "Uh, I don't know yet, I think I'll handle that instead Xander." She answered, Xander nodded "Ok, thought I'd ask if you weren't up to it."

"Thanks all the same Xander, how's Anya doing?" Buffy said, curious as to how her other friend was handling this all. Xander closed the door and they walked to the kitchen "She's doing better, still asking questions. It hit her pretty hard, she doesn't know how to act and she's afraid of possibly acting horrible around you or the others." He said as he nodded at Duncan and Scott and patted Dawn on the shoulder with a smile.

Nathan, Domino and Conner were at a coffee shop in town, they found it a nice enough place, although Domino had received a few stares from a few people in town and in the shop, "Don't pay attention to it." Conner said. Domino snapped her head back to look at him "What are you talking about?" she asked, Conner looked at her with a steady and very intimidation stare "Don't pay attention to them, it only makes them go further."

"He's right." Nathan said, he worn a pair of sun glasses and a jacket, dressed in civilian clothing, where as Domino was wearing a black trench coat with jeans and a blouse, doing as Nathan and sported a pair of shades.

"Like you'd know, you for the most part look normal." She hissed at him, Conner shook his head and went to drinking his coffee, he looked around the place, it was a sunny day and the streets flowed with people going about their business, he found it hard to believe that this town was the center for evil on earth.

"Hey." They heard from someone approaching them, they turned to see Willow and Tara coming towards them them. "Hello Willow, Tara, how are you two doing today?" Conner asked as Nathan nodded and Domino waved back with a grin.

"So what are you two doing today?" Conner continued, "We're going to see Giles at the Magic Shop, we've been out of town for a bit so we figured that we'd catch up on anything that's been going on lately." Willow said cheerfully, "We'll go and see Buffy later on too." Tara added.

"Magic? You don't actually believe in that stuff do you?" Domino asked in disbelief of the nature of the two wiccan's that stood in their presence, "Want to come with us? We can show you a few things." Tara invited, Willow immediately nodded with a smile.

Domino thought for a second or two, yes, these two were obviously too cheery for her and they would probably drive her to jumping out of a window, but she had nothing better to do so she decided to accept the offer "Sure, lead the way." She said with a grin. 

Willow motioned with her hand as the three of them took off, leaving Conner and Nathan by themselves, something felt off, like they were forgetting something. Nathan slummed in his seat as he looked over to Dominos seat, "What is it?" Conner asked, Nathan pointed to her seat "She left us with her bill." He said blatantly.

The door to the Magic shop opened with a ring, Anya and Giles looked up to see Willow, Tara and Domino walk in. "Hey Giles, anything new?" Willow asked as Domino took a seat with Tara at the table, it was littered with old books, Domino opened one to se a description of a nasty looking demon and a language she knew nothing about "It's Egyptian." Tara said.

Domino looked up to the blonde witch "What?" she asked, Tara pointed at the page "It's about a Egyptian cult that worshipped reptiles, they called up a nasty cobra demon a couple of months ago, should have seen it, ugly looking thing." She said, she did her best at keeping calm and not stuttering from the nervousness she felt.

Domino looked at the page with a freaked out look as she slowly placed in back on the table "This is going to be interesting." She mumbled to herself as she watched Willow and Tara begin their demonstration.

Later on in the evening, Buffy was on patrol in the cemetery, Nathan had decided to come along at Buffy's discretion, "So, where are these demons anyway?" Nathan asked, looking around in the dark, Buffy continued to stroll along, passing the headstones "Don't worry, they usually come to you." She said.

They stopped suddenly, Buffy remained still, like a statue, "What is it?" Nathan asked, Buffy raised her hand, asking for silence, Nathan looked around, he heard nothing, sure, he was a soldier and all, but this was Buffy's gig, not his, she was the pro here.

Without warning, Nathan saw a figure pop out of nowhere, growling with inhuman sounds "Shit! Look out!" he yelled, but it was unnecessary as Buffy was already rushing at it.

The demon swiped at her head, he noted that it was extremely quick, but to his surprise, Buffy was quicker as she delivered a rather nasty uppercut to it's jaw, sending it flying on its back. Nathan ran towards her. But by the time it took him to close the gap of a few feet, Buffy had already jumped on it and stabbed it through the heart.

He watched in awe and amazement as it turned to ash within seconds, sounds of feral animals escaped its lips and it disintegrated rapidly into nothingness.

"Whoa." Nathan said as Buffy got to her feet, "Yeah, he was new, the new one are always morons." She said as she patted herself off from all the ash on her clothes.

"And I thought my life was interesting." Nathan said as they continued onward in search of other vampires and whatever awaited them on this night.

After a little over an hour, they decided to try some of the crypts in one of the other cemeterys'. They looked around a few of the seemingly abandoned crypts, "Is it always like this?" Nathan asked, becoming a little bored of the walking and looking. Buffy looked up at him "Sometimes, actually, it usually is." She said, realizing that it was indeed like this.

Before they could proceed to their next stop for checking, they were ambushed, out of nowhere, five vampires appeared rapidly out of the shadows, charging towards them. Two of the enemy demons leaped towards Nathan through the air as the other three went for Buffy.

Nathan pulled a surprise on the two coming towards him when he held them still in the air, but this left Nathan off guard as one of the three vampire that were attacking Buffy came towards him from behind and tackled him. Buffy was tossed to te ground, she and Nathan got to their feet and regrouped, standing side by side, as did the other vampires.

Just as the demons were about to strike again, three figures came from the shadows. At first, Buffy and Nathan thought they were other demons here to join their kindred, but they soon figured out that it was the opposite.

As the five turned, two were reduced to ash immediately, while the remaining three where thrashed considerably before they too were in seconds turned to ash.

Buffy and Nathan watched as two of the three figures stepped out of the shadows, Buffy gave a sigh of relief, "Angel, Wesley. What are you two doing here?" she asked. Angel stood there, brooding as he usually did, looking at her, hiding a pain he bore within "Hey, good to see you too." He replied, Wesley waved as he too a sigh of relief "Yes, well, we recently heard about your mother, we came as soon as we could." He answered.

Buffy smiled as she nodded "Thanks for coming, but whose that?" she asked, looking at the figure still in the shadows behind Angel, the figure slowly stepped out of the darkness and into Buffy and Nathan's view, "Faith?" Buffy said, seeing the one person she hadn't counted on seeing in the near future, Faith seemed to struggle to make eye contact "Hey B." she said in a weak and shy voice, not at all like her.

"I managed to convince the judge to let her out early on probation, under my supervision of course." Angel explained. Buffy moved towards Faith, but the nervous and fearful slayer moved back, looking away from her, Buffy stepped back to where she stood before. 

She suddenly remembered that Nathan was with her "Oh, uh, guys, this is Nathan Grey, former long lost relative of mine, Nathan, this is Angel, Wesley, and Faith." She introduced.

"I know." Nathan said with a sturdy tone, Wesley looked curious as to how this large individual knew them "Have we met before?" he asked. Nathan shook his head "No, I was in L.A. awhile back, looking for Methos. I spotted him with you, but I, as I always do, keep a low profile." He answered. 

Buffy leaned close to Nathan, whispering into his ear "Can you just talk to them? I want to try and talk to Faith.", Nathan looked at Angel who was already talking to Faith, he most likely knew what Buffy wanted to do next, and Wesley, well, he just stood there, looking back and forth to each group.

Nathan sighed and nodded "You owe me." He said sarcastically with a grin.

A couple of minutes later, Faith and Buffy were walking down a street, remaining silent. Buffy looked over to the other slayer, unsure of how to begin talking. "I'm sorry." Faith said, in a low whisper, Buffy looked at her fully, thinking "I know, you proved it when you turned yourself in last time we met." She said.

"I mean about Joyce." Faith corrected, the two stopped under a street lamp "Thanks." Buffy said "How are you doing though, jail and all?" The two of them continued to walk "Well, I'm out now, couple of years probation, it was kinda tough." She said "But I still hurt inside." She added, looking at Buffy with a pained expression "I cry myself to sleep a lot, seeing those faces, what I did to you and the others especially." 

Buffy nodded, she didn't feel completely sorry for Faith, but she knew Faith was on the right path now "It's supposed to, that's why you have to start with the good, again." 

"When I heard about your mom, I just didn't know what to think. After what I did and said to her, and now, I would give anything to take it all back, beg her to forgive me, earn it anyway I could. But I can't now, can I?" she said, Buffy could hear the sorrow building up in her voice, caught in her throat.

"Then fight the good fight for her, make a part of what your doing for her." Buffy said as she stopped, taking Faith by the shoulder. She stood there, as she saw the tears in her eyes, she hadn't noticed it before while they walked through the shadows of the lamps and night. Faith sniffed lightly as she shook her head "I don't know if I can do it alone, I wish I had my friends again. You guys." She said.

Buffy knew how much Faith had changed, she did the only thing her nature could demand of her, she pulled her in and embraced her in a hug, tightly as Faith started to weep freely. Buffy moved to place her lips by Faiths ear to whisper to her "You do Faith, I'm here again, and I'm never going to leave you if you don't."

#### Part 2

****

Faith and Buffy were out in the back yard talking on the steps, the others were inside, it was quite late, Dawn was already in bed as Duncan and Conner went out to the Bronze for a beer. Cable and Domino were talking with Xander and Anya trying to get their story straight while Scott and Jean were with Giles and Wesley, getting to know the whole slayer thing a lot better. Angel was with Willow and getting to know Tara as they reminisced about the past for Tara and about how things had gone since Angel left for L.A.

"So, there are two slayers because Buffy died, but Angel and Xander managed to bring her back?" Scott asked the two former watchers, Giles nodded "Yes, that was when she was new in high school." He said.

"And what's Faiths story?" Jean asked, Giles and Wesley exchanged glances as they decided to go into that entire story, "Well, Faith was the second of the new slayer after Kendra, the one that was called when Buffy died, died herself, a month later Faith showed up, Kendra's complete opposite." Wesley began, "Yes, however, her upbringing was something of a tragedy, abusive parents, and later on, her watcher was slaughtered by a rather large Greek vampire, when that happened she came here." Wesley said.

"After a few months, and some rather perilous situations, she and Buffy became good friends, but when Faith accidentally killed a man, that's where it all really began." Wesley said, taking a sip from his drink "She seemed to contract a lack of conscience, she didn't care, and tried to fool us into thinking that it was Buffy who did it." He said.

"But, thankfully, she's a terrible liar, at least when it comes to me." Giles said, continuing the story "When she allied herself with a demon, which was also the mayor of this town, they began bitter enemies, Faith pulled out all the stops, almost killed a few of us. In the end, she and Buffy fought, it ended with Faith in a coma with a gut wound Buffy gave her, she woke up after eight months." Giles said, finishing his end of the story.

"After awhile, when I was in L.A. working with Angel, she showed up, contracted by a law firm that deals with demons, they hired her to kill Angel, she tortured me before he found us." Wesley said.

They turned to se Angel standing by them when he continued "All in all, we fought, and by the end, her conscience woke up, she broke down, when the watchers council came for her there was a fight. After I was arrested for harboring her, we found her at the police station, confessing to everything." He said.

"We don't blame her completely for what transpired, her upbringing from what we could tell was horrible, both parents were abusive and cruel to her, it's a wonder she didn't snap sooner." Wesley said in Faiths defense. Both Scott and Jean could understand in a way.

In the living room, Nathan and Domino were cracking their skulls open trying to full understand Xander and Anya, "and I thought my family story was enough to blow heads." Nathan mumbled to Domino, "Isn't there anything other than sex you two do together?" Domino asked, shaking her head. 

"Oh yeah, that just seems to be Anyas favorite past time." Xander said in a goofy tone, "Why, don't you two have sex?" Anya asked, both Nathan and Domino looked at each other and looked back ant Xander and Anya "That…uh, that's…none of your damn business!" Domino shouted as she was rising off the couch, looking as though she were about plummet Anya to her seat, permanently. Thankfully Nathan grabbed hold of her and changed the subject.

Buffy and Faith were on the porch, talking still about things they had gone through their lives since they last saw each other, mostly Faith was asking questions to Buffy, but now they were just talking about how they felt about what was happening in the here and now.

"Do you think you and the others will ever forgive me?" Faith asked, shyly, afraid to even ask the question, Buffy scotched closer to her "I don't know about the others, but I can, and I do forgive you Faith." She said, honestly with sincerity. Faith looked at her with a wiry smile on her face "Thank you B." she said in whispers.

Faith was afraid to move in to hug her newly regained friend, but hesitated for a moment, Buffy saw it and smiled as she moved in towards her, hugging her friend tightly. The lost soul that was finally found, and she was going to make sure that Faith wouldn't lose her way again.

"WHOA!! OH!" someone yelled from inside, Buffy and Faith broke their hold and looked back to see Scott in the doorway in the kitchen, she seemed pretty shocked and he incidentally ran into the closed door. The two slayers got up from the steps and walked inside to see what the commotion was all about.

"What's going on?" Buffy asked as she saw Tara looking down, shy and nervous as Willow looked at Buffy and Faith with a mortified expression on her face.

Scott snapped his head to look at her "What? Nothing, uh, I…" he stammered on, speechless and shocked, Jean walked in and saw the looks on everyone's faces, she felt the shock and surprise from them as well, it soar from them like a strong wind.

"What's going on?" she asked, looking at her husband first, Scott looked at her, very shocked and on edge "I-I-I...Walked in to get a …d-drink, and they were…uh…" Scott said as he made odd motions with his hands, bringing them close and apart oddly.

Jean looked at both Tara and Willow, shy and nervous and pretty much knew what Scott had walked in on, "Uh, Scott, honey, come with me, I should tell you something about Willow and Tara." Jean said as she took he husband out of the kitchen, leaving the two slayers and wiccans to talk.

"What was that all about?" Buffy asked, Willow looked at her friend and shrugged "Scott walked in on us." She said shyly and a little shaken, Faith, who remained mostly behind Buffy, still uneasy around everyone else but her "I still don't get it B." she whispered to her.

Willow still could hear her, as did Tara "We were making out for a moment." She confessed, Faith raised her eyebrows in a surprise, sure, she knew the two witches were in love, but she hadn't known Tara long or seen Willow in awhile, she was a little out of touch with current events.

"Oh." Faith said, lurking back behind Buffy. Buffy noticed that Faith wasn't too comfortable still around Willow and Tara, Willow noticed it too "Want to talk?" Willow asked to Faith.

Faith peeked over Buffy's shoulder, Buffy moved to the side, looking at Faith who was being given a chance to talk, possibly be forgiven in time, Faith looked at Willow and Tara cautiously, she felt so nervous inside, her stomach tied into knots as she gave an answer "Sure." She said trying to smile, but instead she gave a shaky grin.

Faith took a seat on the other side of the table with Buffy, and throughout the rest of the night they spoke of how they felt, as well as current things and experiences.

Conner and Duncan were at the Bronze, they sat at a table off from the main group of people, "It's hard to believe that she deals with death and chaos virtually everyday, and then just one death can send it all crashing down." Duncan said, drinking from his beer, watching the people dance to the band.

Conner nodded "You think we should have invited her along? Or gone with her and Nathan?" Conner asked, wanting Duncans opinion, Duncan looked at him "I think she needed to be with family at the moment, and we're practically the only two there who aren't family." He said. Conner nodded "Yes, but, she did invite us to come for the funeral, obviously she considers us friends." He said.

Their conversation was interrupted when one of the waitresses delivered them a beer, Duncan looked at it and back to the waitress "Uh, I didn't order this." He said, the waitress smiled and pointed over to a brunette on the other side of the room "Complements of the lady." She said before she walked away.

Duncan looked at the brunette who sat in her seat giving a sultry look, Duncan grinned as he drank the beer, "Should I leave you two alone?" Conner asked sarcastically as he looked at the young woman, Duncan looked over to him "I think I'll be seeing you later." He said as he got up and walked off.

Conner smirked and shook his head as he finished his beer and left a tip for the waitress, he walked through the crowd and into the street. It was somewhat wet and dirty, the lights reflected off of the damp, wet pavement. He looked around as he began to walk back to the house.

Before long, he was walking alone, isolated in the dark, abandoned streets. He stopped and spun around at the sounds of trash cans being knocked over, he followed the sounds to an alley, in the darkness he saw two figures hounding a woman, she was terrified, but unable to scream as one of the figures had her by the throat.

"Let her go." Conner called out loud, the two figures looked over to him, "Take care of him." The one with the woman by his grasp told the other. Conner took a few steps forward as he saw the figure step into the dim light, he stopped at the sight of it, its face wasn't normal, contorted and freakish was the appearance. Conner had a good idea that it was a vampire, he remembered the way Drusilla looked as well as did the others when she attacked the mansion after he almost had Duncan taking his head.

He reached under his coat as the demon leapt at him. In one swift move, the demon turned to dust as his sword came from his coat and sliced it through its neck. The other one was aware of the happening and released the woman and came at him, Conner shook his head with a smirk as he came to his defensive posture 'idiot.' He thought in his head.

The demon made an inhuman sound as it went to punch Conner in the jaw, but was stopped when he sliced off its hand. The vampire yelled as it staggered back, but Conner didn't stop there, he stepped up as the demon backed off and swiped at its chest, causing it to drop to its knees in pain. As he stepped up again to finish it off, it surprised him by swiping at him with its claws across the chest. He yelped in the surprise as he staggered back.

But before the demon could strike again, Conner brought his sword up and swiped clean for its head, there was nothing but a pile of ash and dust before its head landed.

The petrified woman ran towards him, crying and thanking him as she hugged him gratefully, "Is there anywhere I can take you?" Conner asked, the woman nodded as she told him where she was heading, he agreed to escort her home seeing as she wasn't in any shape to go alone, and that she lived close to Buffy's house.

A few hours later, Conner walked through the door to find Xander and Anya passed out on the couch, he looked over to see Buffy, Willow and Tara talking with a young woman with dark hair. He didn't know who this was, he walked over to the kitchen where he saw them through the door. "Hey." He said.

The four of them looked at him, except the young woman with the dark hair, "Hey Conner, where's Duncan?" Buffy asked, Conner smiled as he shook his head "Met up with a pretty face." He said. Buffy's face lit up as she seemed to remember something "Oh, Conner, this is…" she began, but when her friend looked at him they both looked shocked "Faith." Conner said, finishing Buffys introduction, "Conner?" Faith said back.

The three looked back and forth to Conner and Faith "You know each other?" Tara asked.

#### 10 Years Ago

Conner walked through the streets. He'd been travelling for quite some time now. He was somewhere in California he looked for a place to rest. He heard some soft sounds from the alley he had just passed by, he turned to see a young girl, barely ten years old, shivering in the cold. She was dressed in tattered, filthy clothes. In many years, he had indeed seen children who were in need, troubled, even poor, but never had he seen the sight that he saw now.

He slowly crept closer to her, and kneeled down close to her, no closer than three to four feet, she scotched away as he did, "Don't worry, I won't hurt you." Conner said gently, softly in his dry voice. The little girl was frightened, she proved it with her eyes.

"What's your name? Mine is Conner, Conner Macleod." Conner said, trying to make a connection with her. The girl looked at him and then into his eyes "I'm Faith, my last name is Adams." She said in a little voice, it sounded so innocent that it was even harder to imagine how she could have come to live in the streets. Conner moved a little closer, showing her that he meant only peace with her.

"Why are you not with your parents?" he asked, Faith shook her head "They don't care about me?" she said, Conner smiled lightly, in a caring light "Of course they do, all parents care about their children." He said, Faith shook her hear quickly "Not mine, they always hit me, and say bad things to me." She said, returning her side of the newly established connection between them,

Conner was shocked to hear such a thing about a parent, much less both "Where are they now?" he asked, hoping to try and see if she was telling the truth, "They're dead, they had a fight and there was a fire, I ran away." She said.

Conner looked at her sadly "Do you have anywhere to go?" he asked "Any relatives around?", Faith shook her head again "No." she said, her voice was tearing at him, so young and innocent, it hurt him to see such a child in the alley, "Would you like to come with me? Get some food, clean up?" he offered, trying to do anything that would get her off the street.

Faith looked away, acting closed off "I don't need anyone." She said, now with a cold voice, Conner reached out and turned her head back to face him "That's not true, everyone should at least have one person, need one person. Can I be that person?" he asked, looking at her with a set of innocence.

Faith looked at him, eyebrows raised in that usual childish fashion, she opened her mouth, but hesitated to speak out in a response "O-ok." He said, stammering.

"Come." Conner said as he helped her to her feet. As he carried her with an arm, he looked around "By the way, you wouldn't happen to know any good places to stay around here would you?"

#### Present Day

"And that's how I met Conner here, after a few days, he brought me to a few people he knew who were looking to help orphans, they helped me with school and all, Conner stopped by every now and then, taught me some martial arts." She said. "But when I came the last time, 3 years after that, they told me you ran off when you managed to pull through high school early." Conner said, hoping to know why.
Faith nodded her head "That's sort of a complicated story Conner, I ran off again."
****8 Years Ago
Faith walked along the streets of the small town in the middle of nowhere, she was, as always, angered by the others in school, she had managed to get ahead in her classes, only because she had done some 'favors' for certain people in the faculty. She walked through alleys, getting closer to the half way house.
She was being taunted by the others, being stalked by them, even after school they always tried to hurt her. "The world's just out to screw me." She told herself, what was worse was that she had come to believe it completely. She stopped dead in her tracks when she came up to an all too familiar face, a group of faces actually "Go away." She said with a dark stare at them.
There were two of them two girls, completely far from being lovely and obsessed with their vanity, but dressed as a boy would, worn jeans, baggy as was their shirts. Jean coats over top, "You're in our way. Why don't you go back with all the other freaks." They said, beginning to horribly taunting her again.
"Shut up." Faith growled as she moved to walk past them, but the two girls moved in her way again, "Where you going huh? Back to that house, being a little slut?" they said, making evil grins at her "You're a nobody, you're ugly, disgusting!" the other said as they moved up to her as she stepped back, keeping away.
Faith became more and more enraged, she wished that Conner were here to make them stop, but even if he did, they'd come back after he had left again "Shut up!" she said again, her growl was more feral than before. "Why? You gonna get us? You gonna hurt us? You can do anything right, what makes you think you can hurt us, you're nothing but a freak." They said, beginning to yell out.
Something in Faith snapped, the thirteen year old lunged forward, her fist landed on one of the girls' jaw, her head flew back as blood flew from her split lip. Faith spun around and delivered a roundhouse kick to the other, her foot collided with her stomach.
Both girls were on the ground, the first was crying as a small pool of blood was forming by her head, where the blood seemed to uncontrollably flow from her mouth, Faith was sure she had broken quite a few of her teeth. The second managed to get back up and surprise Faith as she watched the other girl bleeding badly. The girls fist hit Faith in the face, but it did little to her as her head snapped back to face the bully.
Once again the bully went to punch Faith, but this time Faith wouldn't be sucker punched, she moved to the side letting the bully pass by, she grabbed the girl by the back of the head and threw her forward towards the wall. Faith heard a distinct thud as the girl hit the wall head on.
Faith stopped as she was about to continue, the girl dropped to the ground, blood covered her face, eyes closed and limp and twisted as she lay on the ground. Faith walked up to her body, she was horrified at how she looked, the blood.
She turned to se the other girl beginning to get up, she would see her ally on the ground, probably dead. In that moment, Faith freaked, she rushed up and gave a hard, swift kick to her face, she felt bones break as the girl flew back to the ground. Inside, Faith knew she was dead.
****Present Day
"And that's when I ran." Faith said, she didn't look at any of them, not even Conner who looked at her with intensity, "It was an accident, you never meant to kill her." Willow said, Faith shook her head and looked at them "It is, it's always me." Faith said, contradicting Willow.
Conner took her shoulder "It happened, there's no sense in letting them win by telling yourself what they said to you for the rest of your life, and believing it." He said "I can help you, if you'll let me." He asked, offering to be a part of her life again. Faith looked at him, he saw her walls crumbling, she nodded as she lay forward and rested against Conner's chest, weeping silently.
    
They remained there silently for a few minutes as Faith cried, Buffy and willow moved in and hugged her, somewhat of a group hug. Tara remained back, giving a sympathetic look for the slayer.
    
The moment ended when the door swung open with a bang as it hit the wall, they looked to see Duncan standing there, arms against the doorframe, breathing heavily. His clothes were rather badly torn up, his wounds were already healed though.
    
"What the hell happened to you?" Buffy asked in shock as they all stared at him. Duncan slowly walked into the kitchen, he began to chuckle as he pointed aimlessly "I am NEVER dating anyone in this town, NEVER!" he said in an exasperated and eccentric tone.
The four girls looked at Conner as he looked at Duncan "She was a vampire, wasn't she?" he asked with a smirk on his face. Duncan looked at him with, perked up his head "No, you think?" he said, acting rude and sarcastic. The others chuckled, trying to hide it, but with very little success. Duncan looked at them, his eyes wide and shaking his head "Is this funny?" he asked sarcastically.
"Yes?" Tara spoke out shyly with a smirk on her shy face. Duncan began to laugh too, he knew it was humorous in some way. He and Conner always seemed to be the ladies man, and here he was, torn up from an undead psycho bitch. 
Some hour later, Willow and Tara were gone, went home to get some sleep, they had given Buffy their warm good bye's and left, Faith went to stay with Angel and Wesley at his mansion that was around the cemetery, Conner had been planing something to help her. Buffy knew that Faith had really wanted to confront Joyce and try to make amends. Buffy remembered Faith saying something about how much she saw Joyce as her own mother as well, how she acted toward her in the way her own mother had never done.
Buffy was sitting on the front steps, dressed in a sweater and jogging pants, she couldn't sleep. While talking with Faith and with everything that had transpired earlier, she had a moment of peace, she forgot about the pain over her mothers death. But now it was back, eating at her soul like hellfire.
The night air was beautifully warm, she sat there on the front steps barefoot, it was past four in the morning, everyone was asleep at this hour, the house was dark and quiet. She was glad that all of the earlier commotion hadn't waken up Dawn, her love and concern for her little sister was one of her biggest worries as of lately.
She knew that Xander and Jean had really helped her come to terms with her death, but the pain of it still remained, Dawn did hide it, but it still showed. Buffy was grateful for Scott and Jean being there for her. And that they had decided to care for her back in New York.
She was about to get up off the steps, feeling the onslaught of sleep beginning to overtake her mind and body. She stopped when she heard steps coming down the sidewalk, she turned to look for a moment before continuing to the door.
She stopped and turned back around to the street as she saw someone she hadn't planned on seeing at the time. "Spike?" she called out as she indeed saw Spike walk up to her from the shadows of the street "Hey slayer." He said. Buffy walked down the steps and walked along the cement path to where he stood on the sidewalk, just in front of the pathway "What are you doing here?" she asked sternly.
She really didn't feel like arguing with him of putting up with his rude comments. "I heard about your mother, I …came to give my condolences." He said, Buffy was surprised to say the least, he was acting polite for once, she looked at him with raised eyebrows and her mouth dropped open a little.
"Well, don't just stand there slayer, say something, yell, kick my ass if you want." Spike said as he returned to his usual, rude self. Buffy shook herself of the initial shock of his thought non-existent caring side "Uh, thank you, but what are you doing here though, at this hour?" she asked curiously.
Spike looked around, his eyes moved to all corners, he moved up and down in the tips of his toes, acting odd "Uh, just out for a stroll." He said uncomfortably. Buffy looked at him, she hated it when he acted mysterious, at least in this way "Spike…" she said, silently demanding to know why he had been coming by her home.
Spike shook his head, looking irritated by the fact that she saw right through him, again, "Oh alright, if you must know…I was worried." He said, almost yelling at her. Buffy stepped back a step and looked at him, curled eyebrows and all "Worried?" she said in yet another surprised tone "Since when do you worry about me?" she asked.
Spike raised his arms and let them drop back to his sides, as he released and exasperated breath "Geez slayer, does a demon really need a reason for anything?" he said sarcastically, Buffy stood before him, arms crossed looking at him directly. Spike realized that he wouldn't get out of this situation without telling her what was on his mind.
He moved a little bit back, "You remember awhile ago, you asked me about the two slayers I killed before. I didn't give you the whole truth, just parts of it." He said as he turned around and lit a cigarette, he took it in his hands as he turned around to face her, Buffy nodded, her arms fell to her sides "Yes, I do." She said, fearing at what he was getting at.
"I was able to kill them because I felt nothing, to them and inside myself. I didn't hate, fear, care…or love." He said, he became distant when he said the last one. Buffy stepped back again, Spike shook his head "After your show down with Angelus. Me and Dru ended up in South America, it was when she broke up with me that she told me something I didn't accept, something I didn't really understand at the time." He said, he took a deep breath as he was now bearing whatever was left of his soul to her.
    
"She told me that every time she looked at me…she saw you." He said, Buffy looked at him, still not completely understanding what he was trying to say, Spike dropped to his knees, looking up at her, much the same way he had been when he first talked to her about the slayers, Buffy kneeled down to be eye level with him.
"I can't kill you slayer, because of this." He said as he quickly rushed forward and kissed her softly on her lips. Buffy jumped back in shock, he rose to her feet as did he, Spike looked at her, looking blank. Buffy was shocked to say the least, she did what came all to natural to him, she brought her fist back and struck out to him, landing her punch on his jaw.
Spikes head flew back, he staggered back a few feet. He wiped the trickle of blood from his lip as he regained his composure and looked at her. Buffy walked up to him, put her arms around his neck and returned the kiss, hard at first, but it became soft after a moment. She pulled away and looked at him seriously "I'll never kiss you again." She whispered to him. Spike looked at her and began to walk away.
"I didn't say I didn't want a friend." Buffy called out to him, Spike stopped, keeping his back to her as he looked over his shoulder. Buffy couldn't see it, but he was smiling, he did long for her, but her friendship was just as precious as love was "I can accept that. Take care, good luck with the funeral…Buffy." He said as he continued to walk away into the night.
"Spike?" she called out again, Spike turned around and looked at her "Yeah?" he replied back to her, "Thank you, for caring." Buffy said with a emotional look. Spike smiled as he nodded "You ever need me, you know where to knock my door open." He said jokingly as he continued to walk off and vanish into the night.
**** Part 3
The day was dreary, there was no light piercing through the dark clouds. Everyone exited the cars, dressed in black. Angel was able to endure the current day as well, there was no direct sunlight to seriously harm him. They all gathered around the burial plot. Some of them stood while Buffy, Dawn, Scott, Jean and Willow and Tara took a seat. The others remained standing as the priest gave the ceremony.
Many of them had shed tears, Buffy didn't, she wanted to be strong for Dawn who sat next to her, sniffling softly. Xander and Anya weren't that far off from the way they were, Xander held her hand as she half leaned on him, an expression of sorrow on her face, tears building and running from her eyes. Nathan and Domino kept their heads lowered, they were two of a pair, remaining somewhat distant from their emotions, but inside, they were weeping as were the others.
Scott held Dawns hand as he kept close to her, he was just as sad as she was almost, he was here to pay respects to a relative he would never know, someone he could only hear about, but never see or talk to. Jean was frowning, on the verge of tears, she was feeling everyone's sadness all together, *_Nathan? Are you alright?_* she asked him through their telepathy. *_I'm ok Jean, I think you know how I feel._* Nathan replied, even his mental voice was sad.
Willow has in tears, he tried to keep her sobs as silent as she could, she felt horrible. She looked over to Tara as she felt her hand take hers and hold on tightly, a weakened smile crept through her sadness as she continued to cry. Tara had tears flowing as well, she felt as though Willows sadness and emotions were entering her.
Duncan and Conner kept their heads lowered, hand together in front of them, they did feel sadness for the death of Dawn and Buffy's mother, they had no relation to her, or even knew her. But if it was one thing they had learned over the past centuries of their lives, it was that all life was a gift, a blessing, for it to end was a sorrow that even god bore.
Faith was near Buffy and Willow, she placed a hand on Buffy's shoulder, Buffy had looked up at her. Faith saw her eyes were filled with tears, welling up. Buffy took a touch to Faiths hand, silently appreciating her support and presence here.
For those who knew Joyce Summers best, they heard nothing, it was as though a void or wall was in between them. Before long, the coffin was being lowered into the ground, dirt was being tossed into the pit, one by one everyone rose up and left back near to the cars. Buffy, Xander and Willow were left along with Dawn, they sat together, embraced in a hug, tears flowed from each and every one of them.
Scott and Jean were back by the cars, Everyone was silent or quietly talking to one another. Scott saw a man arrive to the scene, he was wearing a black coat, white shirt and black pants. He was in his early to mid thirties. "Can we help you?" Scott asked aloud, everyone looked, their attention was to the stranger who looked at Scott "Yes, I'm Murphy Summers, Buffy and Dawns father." He said.
    
Scott suddenly felt angry, he heard about how and why he had left Joyce and the girls a long time ago, Murphy looked at Scott without any kind of visible emotion surface in his expression. "Where the hell have you been?" Scott demanded angrily, a scowl formed on his face "All this time, your away, you just leave off to Europe with some bimbo secretary of yours! You don't even bother to call them, Fuck! You couldn't even make their mothers funeral on time!" Scott said, with each word he became more and more agitated. 
    
"And just who are you?" Murphy asked, becoming offended by Scotts attitude, Scott perked up a moment and stepped up to Murphy "Name's Scott Summers." He said sternly and angrily.
    
Murphy looked at him "It doesn't matter, I'm taking my kids with me, thanks for holding on to them for me." He said, Jean began to look upon Murphy with loathing, she sensed more of an attachment to Buffy and Dawn as possessions instead of as a father to his children, Nathan felt it to and he came up to the argument "The fucking hell you are!" Jean yelled out, shocking everyone by her choice of words.
    
"You even try to take them away without our consent, you going to find yourself flying back to Europe, without the plane." Jean said angrily, she too had let her emotions get the best of her. Murphy tried to walk past them "Assholes." He muttered as he looked back at them with a furrowed brow.
    
He came to a halt when he walked into Nathan "Hey!" Murphy said, as he turned back to face Nathan in the chest, he looked up slowly at him "And who are you?" Murphy asked, Nathan stepped back, his arms crossed much in the way that Buffy did "Names Nathan Grey Summers. And if you even try taking them away, I'll permanently bond you to that tree over there." He said in a very imposing manner.
    
Murphy shook his head as he continued to walk past Nathan and on to where Buffy and Dawn were with Willow and Xander.
"Buffy? Dawn?" they heard, they turned to see Murphy, "Dad?" Dawn said, Buffy stood up to face him, her nerves were on end, facing her father, the man who had willingly decided to have little or no contact with them was here. She was almost afraid as to why he was if there was a reason aside from her mothers death. "What are you doing here?" Buffy asked.
Xander and Willow left to join the others, seeing as this was a Summers thing, Willow and Xander met up with Anya and Tara who walked up to meet with them "What's he doing here?" Willow asked silently. They walked up to an angry looking Scott, Jean and Nathan and they asked for the story.
"You're what? Here to take us with you?" Buffy asked out in disbelief, Murphy nodded. "Why?" Dawn demanded "All my friends are here, I can live with being away from them, but I'm staying with Scott and Jean now, what about them?" she asked, worried. She had come to love the two once lost relatives that she now cared for just as deeply as her own mother.
Murphy shook his head "You're coming with me." He stated simply, Dawn shook her head "No! I'm staying with Scott and Jean, I won't go with you. You left us!" Dawn yelled as she ran off to get to Jean who had walked up a little closer to the argument. But Murphy had grabbed her by the arm "You're coming with me!" he said angrily.
Buffy went to get his hands off of her, but stopped when she saw Spike himself do it before she had, Murphy looked at the darkly dressed vampire with a shocked and angered expression. Buffy saw Dawn run to Jean waiting arms, Jean hugged her tightly as she saw what had happened. So did everyone else as they began to walk up to the scene with anger toward Buffy and Dawns so called father. 
    
"If you ever grab her like that again, I'll rip your bloody hands off with a dull blade, got that?" Spike said with a fearsome voice, almost a growl as he flung Murphy's hand away. Spike motioned for Buffy and they walked back to the rest of the group who were waiting for them.
    
Murphy followed them yelling "You are coming with me, you're my children dammit!" he swore. "No." Buffy said as she turned around to face him "You walked out on us with some bitch! You left us alone, with mom, you stopped being our father." She said as she went and rejoined the others. Murphy stood there, angry. "Leave now." Scott demanded.
    
"And who do you all think you are to tell me what to do with my children?" Murphy yelled at them. "We're family." Angel said as he walked to the front of them. His stoic features showed as he stared at him.
    
Murphy nodded at his apparent defeat "Fine, keep the little shits, like I care." He said as he stomped off to his car. Buffy looked at Angel as he turned back around and met her gaze "Thank you." She said, shocked by his response to her fathers' question. Angel shrugged and nodded "I said the truth."
    
In the distance, a young woman watched from the side of a tree, smiling as she could hear their words telepathically 
    
****Part 4
    
The crowd returned to the house for the reception. Anya was ranting about how angry she was about what had happened earlier "I swear, if I were still a vengeance demon, I'd put his ass through the meat grinder!" she hissed out as Jean carried on to her every word with Dawn close next to her.
    
Scott was talking with Angel, a little grossed out by the fact the souled vampire was drinking a glass of blood, "Uh, thanks for what you said back there." Scott said, grateful for the words Angel spoke earlier, Angel looked at him, looking uncomfortable in a way "Like I said, it was the truth."
    
The others were around, drinking, talking about this and that about Joyce's life. Xander, Willow and Tara were talking to Duncan and Conner about some of the things that Joyce did. To always make them feel loved and special when they would come to visit or when they were having problems and she listened.
    
Faith and Giles were with Buffy outside on the steps, Wesley came out with drinks for them "Where's Spike?" he asked, worried over the whereabouts of the tamed vampire. Faith thought for a moment "Uh, I think he's somewhere around, I heard him say something about how big gatherings aren't his thing." She said as she took a glass off of Wesley's hands
    
"I keep thinking about it all, what Angel said. We really are a family, all of us, aren't we?" she asked looking up at Giles. "Yes, I suppose we are." He replied, a small smile on his face. "Yeah, you guys are family." Faith said nodding, Buffy looked around to her, she looked at Faith in the eyes "You are too Faith, you always were." She said.
    
Faith looked away, closed off a little from Buffys words, she never did belong to anything like this, Buffy reached out and touched Faiths shoulder gently "Look at me, please?" she beckoned. When Faith looked up to Buffy, a tear was running down her cheek "I need to go somewhere, I'll be back soon, ok?" she said as she stood up and wiped the tear and walked off.
    
At night time, Faith and Buffy had gone out to patrol. Buffy still didn't know where Faith had gone earlier during the reception. "Faith? Where are we going?" Buffy asked as Faith led her through the cemetery, "Here." Faith said as she stopped over her mothers grave, Buffy looked puzzled, her mother wasn't bitten by a vampire, "Why come here?" she asked.
    
Faith reached into her pocket and pulled out a candle, she placed it down at the base of the head stone and lit it. The flame burnt brightly in the night as it illuminated the stone. "Conner told me about Heather, his first wife, his only wife too I think. He loved her more than life itself, and he stayed with her until she died an old woman. He told me about the promise she asked him to keep before she died, to light a candle for her every year on her birthday. He's kept it for over 500 years too." She said a she stood up.
Buffy came up behind her, put her arms around Faith's waist and rested her chin on her shoulder, Faith touched her hands, placing her overtop "I'm making a promise to Joyce…mom now, every year on the day she died, I'll light a candle. It's the only way I can think of to show her how much I cared." She said, a saddened expression on her face.
"B?" Faith asked out, "Yes?" Buffy said, still holding her friend "This is probably a stupid question, but in what way am I family to you, like, what kind of part of it I mean." She asked nervously and shyly. Buffy smiled as she moved to be in front of her "A sister." She said gently.
Faith smiled happily as she moved in and hugged her as Buffy hugged back, sisters. 
The flame shined brightly, illuminating them, if it was symbol, Joyce knew of it, and was happy for their uniting, happy for Faith and Buffy, happy that her three children would learn to live again from each other, and never stray from the path again.
****End
    
Note: Hey, hope you enjoyed this one, I tried to get it more on the dramatic side. Please read and review this, Input is EMENSLY loved and appreciated! J 


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